August 21, 2011

40 Publishing Buzzwords, Clichés and Euphemisms Decoded

Ever wonder what editors, publishers and critics mean when they describe books as “lyrical,” “provocative” or “ripped from the headlines”? Let industry veterans explain it to you. I asked experts on Twitter to decode common publishing terms and attach the hashtag #pubcode. Here are some of their answers:

List is spot-on. Remember when “splendid” was the adjective du jour? “limns” — reviewed by the NYT
“uneven” — feel free to skip and skim
sometimes I just want to say “trust me,” it’s either good or it’s not.

[…] The Universal Translator is applied to book reviews for the first time: Ever wonder what editors, publishers and critics mean when they describe books as “lyrical,” “provocative” or “ripped from the headlines”? Let industry veterans explain it to you. […]

[…] veterans to decode other euphemisms and to attach the hashtag #pubcode on Twitter. I collected 40 of their answers, and others poured in afterward. And if many responses were tongue-in-cheek, they also pointed to a […]

Stephen, Angela, William and others: Thanks so much for these delightful comments. I’m a bit slow in responding to them because we’ve been hit bit by Irene but they have added cheer to the week. The sequel to this post appears at http://bit.ly/pubcode2. Jan

Many thanks to the BLT (Bible*Literature*Translation) blog, which has added another definition (see its Comments section): “campy = gay” http://bit.ly/gycamp. Probably more true in the past than today but still frequently used to describe some classics.

[…] choose the heartiest foods. By the criteria of creative writing, Fountain’s novel and Power’s indeed capture our time in luminous prose by two writers who are destined to become the voice of their […]